Time's running out . . .

Jordan, at a Bible conference the other weekend in Royal, North Carolina, said, “You guys see Bill O’Reilly a couple of weeks ago with Bill Maher? That’s the most pathetic thing I ever saw. Old Bill says to Bill, ‘You don’t really believe there’s a boat where everybody drowned and people survived?’ And Old Bill says, ‘No, no, that’s all allegory!’

“Tweedle-dee, tweedle-dum. You guys who think Bill O’Reilly is your hero—he’s a Jesuit-trained Roman Catholic; that’s why he thinks that way!

“There’s no salvation in him! Glenn Beck is a failed Catholic converted to Mormonism. There ain’t no help in him! They tell you enough truth to get you hooked so they can go to the bank.

"I’m sorry, Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann, on the other side, are Jesuit-trained Roman Catholics too. Ooh. And that don’t scare you? That doesn’t alarm you? That doesn’t alert you? You’ve forgotten things your forefathers knew! And you wonder why things are the way they are socially, politically, economically?!”

*****

“People try to take Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and make one big story out of it. If God wanted you to have one account of the life of Christ He’d have wrote ONE! He wrote four because those four gospels give you a four-fold doctrinal presentation of the Messiah that matches the four ‘behold statements’ and the four ‘branch titles’ of the Old Testament.

 “God told Israel, ‘Behold your Messiah is going to be a king, He’s going to be a servant, He’s going to be a man, He’s going to be God, He’s going to be the righteous branch of David,  He’s going to be a servant, the man who’s name is the Branch and He’s going to be the Branch of the Lord. So look for Him and when He comes, He identifies Him and you have a doctrinal thing that anybody who knows anything about the Bible . . .  

“You folks look at it and say, ‘That’s wonderful; we understand why there’s four gospels!’ If you don’t have any spiritual eyes to see those things, you think what we really need is one composite story. Why? ‘Because that’s how we study history, Brother Rick.’

“There’s a spiritual mind and there’s a secular mind. Now if you go to school today and study A.T. Robertson’s ‘Harmony of the Gospels’, know he’s a saved man and a good guy, but he just didn’t have a concept of what was really going on in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John doctrinally. He wasn’t a dispensationalist. He wrote commentaries on the Bible and he wrote a book this thick on the Greek language, but he was blind as a bat flying backwards when it came to understanding the Gospels and how that ought to effect the way you study the Bible.

*****

“Clement, along with Philo, are the fathers of the allegorical school of interpreting the Bible. Allegorical is opposite of dispensational. Dispensationals say, ‘When you talk about Adam and Eve, it means there’s an Adam and there’s an Eve. There was a real flood.’ Allegorical says, ‘Well, it don’t make any difference.’ ”

(Editor’s note: To be continued . . .)

We're going to meeting!

Ezekiel sees the glory of God and this great cloud that engulfs it; one that is glowing from the inside out. The light is amber and affects all around it.

He writes, “And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about. [28] As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.”

Jordan explains, “Notice the description there. The appearance of the light was ‘like a bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain.’ We call that a rainbow. So the appearance of this light representing God’s glory was not just a light shining out. It was that, because that’s what light does, but rather it was the appearance of a rainbow.

“Now you know where a rainbow comes from. You take a ray of light and refract it; you bend it and when you put it through a prism, which is what water vapor will do, it bends out the different shades of the light and all the colors of that light appear.

“As that light comes out through that cloud, you begin to see the appearance of the glory of God in all of the facets of what light is. You begin to see God’s glory represented in all the various facets that make up His character and essence. That’s what His glory’s all about.

“So this cloud would have been an unbelievably spectacular, majestic, awe-inspiring thing to see. Israel had it; we refer to it sometime as the Shekinah Glory--it’s the glory of His presence. It was in the tabernacle, it was in the temple, and it’s here in Ezekiel.”

*****

At the Rapture, Paul tells us the Lord Himself is going to descend and all members of the Body of Christ will be caught up together in the clouds in our glorified bodies that radiate His glory.

“We’re going to be caught up out of the sight of people on the earth into this pavilion that encompasses the glory of God,” explains Jordan. “Now when I read that, I think, ‘Well, I understand from the other part that it’s going to be a visible event and an audible event, but it’s also going to be quite a majestic event. This is going to be something for the heavenly host and for us. I mean, I forget about everybody else. This is not some jitterbug we’re going to go to. This is not some shindig. We’re going to go meet the Lord in all of His glory!

“When Paul says we’re caught up together with them in the clouds, in that pavilion of His glory to meet the Lord in the air, that word ‘meet’ there is used in an interesting way in the Scripture. It isn’t like we’re just going to bump into Him; we just happen to be there floating around in the air and He happened to be there too and we just run into each other. This is a planned, intentional thing where we go there to meet him.

“Down South when you go to church a lot of times people say, ‘We’re going to meetins.’ There’s a predesigned meeting that we’re going to go to. We got a meeting to attend. You got an appointment.

“Acts 28:15 says, ‘And from thence, when the brethren heard of us, they came to meet us as far as Appiiforum, and The three taverns: whom when Paul saw, he thanked God, and took courage.’

“I used to know bums in the rescue mission that loved that verse. There was a saloon in Mobile called ‘The Three Taverns.’ Guys would come into the mission and say, ‘You know, we just been down to that Bible place.’

“I just want you to see the thing about they came to meet us. There was an entourage that came out to welcome Paul and his associates when they heard about him coming.

“Well, the Lord is going to come down and we’re going to go up to meet the Lord. When you were young and you were being told how to introduce people to one another, you learned to take the person of more importance and introduce the other person to them. You remember that?

“You go to a meeting, and you’ve got your spouse with you, and you meet your boss. You will introduce your spouse to your boss, kind of a thing. Well, we’re going to go meet the Lord. He’s the Big Cheese. We’re going there to meet Him. But it’s a planned meeting. He set it aside and He said, ‘I’m going to meet with you.’ ”

*****

A great illustration of this concept is in the famous passage from John 12 about the triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem: "On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,
[13] Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.
[14] And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon; as it is written,
[15] Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass's colt.”

Jordan says, “Notice they go out to meet Him. They heard He’s coming. It’s a planned thing. I Corinthians 5 says we have a rendezvous with the Lord in clouds in the air. I Cor. 4:5 says, ‘Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.’ ”

Waters to swim in

One of the most interesting rivers in the Bible is found in Ezekiel 47.

Ezekiel tells us that “when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the waters were to the ancles.
[4] Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through the waters; the waters were to the knees. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through; the waters were to the loins.
[5] Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not pass over: for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over.
[6] And he said unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen this? Then he brought me, and caused me to return to the brink of the river.
[7] Now when I had returned, behold, at the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other.
[8] Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea: which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed.”

Jordan explains, “Notice he’s going to measure the waters. You remember those verses in Paul he talks about the measure of every part? And how we’re members of the body? The example here in Ezekiel is of edification. There’s a strange parallel between the ministry of the Holy Spirit and what you see in this river here.”

Verse 3 says “the waters were to the ancles” and then they go deeper to the knees and then to the loins, or up to the waist.

“It’s actually easier to walk in water up to your waist then it is water that is knee-deep; that’s a strange thing,” says Jordan. “He keeps going right into the ‘waters to swim in.’

“You remember in Luke 5 when Jesus tells His disciples to launch out in the deep? He sends them fishing. That’s actually an allusion back to this chapter here. Don’t be satisfied with the ankle-deep water; don’t be satisfied with the knee-deep water and don’t be satisfied with the waist-high water. Launch out where you got to swim, where your feet can’t touch the bottom. Where you’re suspended and held up by the water.

“You say, ‘but I’m suspended because I suck air into my lungs, because I don’t float so good.' But that’s okay because you know another emblem of the Holy Spirit in the Bible? Wind and breath.

“Notice it says ‘at the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other.’ The water produces some fruit here; it’s productive. There’s some trees growing by it. It says ‘the waters shall be healed.’

“You remember that verse in Revelation he talks about ‘for the healing of the nations’? A river is not an end in itself. A river has a termination place. A river terminates in the sea. Ecclesiastes 1 talks about what comes up, goes down and goes right back to the sea. The water cycle.

“The sea in the Bible is a picture of the nations of the earth. Unorganized humanity. ‘The wicked are like the troubled sea.’ In Daniel 7, he sees those beasts come out of the sea. In Revelation 13, the Antichrist comes out of the sea. He comes out of the nations.

“This river in Ezekiel, when it goes out, what happens to the water? It’s the healing of the nations. The next verse says ‘there shall be a very great multitude of fish.’ You remember Jesus talked about that dragnet of fish, about going out and catching the fish? The dragnet parable in Matthew 53 represents the nations of the earth. They’re out there ‘harvesting’ the nations.

“Ezekiel 40-48 is talking about the Millennial Kingdom, specifically about the restructuring of the land of Palestine and how at the Second Advent the topography of that land is completely changed. That’s why there will be all the earthquakes and such in the land from the Mediterranean all the way to the Euphrates River, which is the land grant God gave Abraham.

“In Ezekiel, the land is parceled out to the tribes of Israel. So they’re going to fill up that land, and in the middle is going to be the priest portion, and in that priest portion they’re going to build a temple and sanctuary. Involved in that is going to be a river that flows out of the sanctuary.

“The rivers in Scripture, when they’re laid out, often describe the ministry that the Spirit of God produces and all of this stuff. When you take a passage like this, and plug it into John 7, you begin to say, ‘Ooh, wow, there’s more to John 7 than just some words. The rivers of living water flowing out of those people is capturing a whole concept of the emblem of the Holy Spirit as water, as rivers flowing.

“One of the fascinating things in all this is where this water comes from. Look at the end of verse 12. It says this river ‘shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary.’

 “That’s where the waters come from. Back in verse 1 he brings me to the house and they come out from the altar. Now what do you do on the altar in the sanctuary? You offer a sacrifice. Where did that water come from in Exodus 17? It came from the smitten rock. Where does the water come from here in Ezekiel? It comes from the sacrifice.

“The only way they’re going to get the Spirit of God to work in Israel, or in you, is through the Crosswork of Jesus Christ because God’s justice won’t give perfect life--which is what the Spirit imparts--to anyone who doesn’t have perfect righteousness.”

A well of living waters

In Exodus 17, when Moses took his rod and smote the rock and out of it came the living water that saved the Israelites dying of thirst, he was a fulfilling a prophetic picture, or what’s called a ‘type.’ The incident foretold, or prefigured, the broken humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary out of which life was going to come.

“But when they wanted water again and Moses went back to that rock, he couldn’t go into the Promised Land because he’d smote the rock a second time,” explains Jordan. “Isn’t that a strange thing to keep a guy like Moses out of the Promised Land?! I mean, wouldn’t you think he would have needed to commit some big terrible sin to be forbidden entrance into the Promised Land?! He’d already been told to hit the rock once. What he did the second time was he violated the type. He contradicted the type.

“What he did when he smote it, when he should have spoken to it only—Christ is smitten once for all. The second time, as Hebrews 6 says, ‘If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.’ God said those people can’t be renewed to repentance.

“What Moses did was make the mistake of crucifying the Lord again and just violating that type, that picture, cost him entrance into the Promised Land. I mean, this stuff can be serious, folks.”

******

John 7: 38 says, "He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water."

The two symbols of the Holy Spirit are living water and a river. “This is because you can have water in different forms; you can have water as dew, as rain. Here it’s living water in the sense it is flowing,” says Jordan.

Water represents the effectiveness and efficiency of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. The living water represents the life that’s in Christ, the life the Messiah will provide.

Jeremiah 2:13 says, “For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.”

“The fountain is sort of like an artesian well; it flows naturally, you can’t stop it,” says Jordan. “A cistern is a bucket you hold water in, but their bucket’s got a hole in it. They’ve forsaken God and they got buckets that can’t hold water. That’s a description of the spiritual condition the nation is in. But who is the fountain of living water? He is; He’s the source.

“What Christ is doing when He talks about out of His belly will flow living water, He’s literally reaching back into Jeremiah, taking a symbol, an emblem of the Holy Spirit’s ministry in Israel under the new covenant right out of the book of Jeremiah, describing what they’ve forsaken."

*****

Jeremiah 17:13, “O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.”

“He’s the starting point out of which this water is going to flow and when that kind of water flows, it becomes a flood,” says Jordan. “A flood is an excessive amount. It’s beyond expectation. And it goes out to bless the earth, to bless those who receive it.”

*****

Jordan says he once wrote down every verse in the Bible about rivers. Rivers start out in Genesis 2. There are four named in Eden and each one has a specific relationship to the land.

“The better known rivers include the Nile, the Euphrates, the Tigris, the Jordan. There’s the rivers of Babylon and Chadar and every river in the Bible has something specific, something special connected with it. There’s a spiritual identity connected with it.”

Rivers are used to represent spiritual truth. Psalm 1 says the godly man “shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”

Jordan says, “One of the things a river does in the Bible is help a godly man produce fruit. Well, isn’t that exactly what the Holy Spirit does? He produces the fruit of the spirit.”

*****

Rivers are often used in Scripture to demonstrate the mission of the Spirit of God. Isaiah 48:18 says, “O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea:”

Jordan says, “The peace of God comes from your faith wresting in the truth of God’s Word, which then allows the Spirit of God to produce the fruit of love, joy, peace.

Isaiah 41:17-18 says, “When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the LORD will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
[18] I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.”

Jordan says, “He’s going to quench the thirst of the thirsty, meaning He’s going to satisfy the hearts of Israel. You see the descriptions there that kind of match John 7?

 “Look at Psalm 36:8 and Psalm 42:1. The blessings God gave Israel will flow Israel out to the needy and it will be like a river and it will be like when someone comes and drinks of the river and is satisfied and finds peace. You can go on and on and on with it.”

(Editor’s Note: To be continued . . . )

Memory for the past

Shorewood Bible Church spent 22 years on the western edge of Chicago before moving to Rolling Meadows and very few of its active members today go back to when the church was called North Shore and located on Sheridan Road in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago.

Jordan reasons, “Some of us don’t have what we call 'institutional memory' as much as others of us do, but what I want you to appreciate is the fact Shorewood has a history, a legacy and a heritage.

The assembly was founded in year 1900 and the minutes book from that year reveal the first regular services were held the first Sunday in 1900 in a vacant store on Evanston Avenue. The church building was erected in 1906. The service of dedications of the North Shore Congregational church building was March 31-April 21, 1907.

“Here’s a program from a Sunday School children’s day on June 11, 1911,” says Jordan. “That’s old stuff folks. They paid 95,000 for the corner and the old stone building they put on it that’s still there.”

In April of 1900 North Shore called a pastor, James Stewart Anslie from Fort Wayne. They had their first organizational meeting on May 6 of 1900 with 86 members. By the end of 1902, they had grown to a congregation of about 400 people. They first erected the side building and then the auditorium.

By 1910 they had the building completely paid for. “Here’s a list of the pastors and it’s fascinating there would be a book like this. We don’t do this kind of stuff very well anymore. They’ve got all the members, people added and how they came, profession of faith, people who were dismissed, the ones who died. All hand-done, beautiful handwriting.”

In the list of pastors was Stewart, then Paul Riley Allen in 1923. J.C. O’Hair was installed Sept. 1, 1923 and remained the pastor until his death in January of 1958. After him was C. R. Stam (1958-60), Kennedy Sloane (1960-63), Clarence Kramer (1964-71),  Ernest Green (1972-79) and Jordan since then.

“O’Hair and I are the only two who’ve pastored over three decades in the assembly,” says Jordan. “It was under O’Hair’s ministry that they built . . .  in fact, there’s a note here about the doing of that, but in October of 1923 the Sunday school was discarded and that’s when they moved out of the congregational denomination. In July 1924, O’Hair started radio broadcasting on WDBY (We Delight in Bothering You). The call letters were changed to WPCC (We Preach Christ Crucified) in Dec. 1, 1925.

“If you know something about the history of the grace movement, you know something about who Charles Baker was, he’s with the Lord now, but Mr. Baker came to work with Mr. O’Hair. He was a  graduate from Dallas Seminary and Mr. O’Hair hired him to build a radio transmitter that was in the bell tower on corner of Wilson and Sheridan. This was a major North Shore intersection at the time. There were tens of thousands of people who would go by the church, and if you go down there today there’s still the sign on top of the old bell tower, ‘Christ Died for Our Sins.’

Life Magazine in the ’50s took a picture off of the Wilson El station in Uptown looking toward the Lake and there’s that sign. That was a gospel witness to tens of thousands of people every day. But they started with the radio ministry and Mr. O’Hair wrote over 200 books and booklets. There was a saying back then, ‘Don’t make J.C. O’Hair mad at you; he’ll write a book about you.’ ”

Say hi to Louie

What a sad day for my family. My sister is at the Brain Trauma Center tonight at Ohio State University Hospital. She was taken by paramedics to Mansfield General on three different occasions this past week. Yesterday was a hearing between her lawyer and Wal-Mart and she broke down in a big way. Uncontrollable crying.

At least her lawyer is finally getting somewhere with the cruel, cold corporation that once loved my sister because she was so good at her job as a greeter and caught all kinds of shoplifters and treated disabled people with such affection. She was the award winner for the whole store for getting the most people to contribute to a charity drive.

My sister was actually on a store camera when she fell 21/2 years ago on their buckled asphalt near Lawn &Garden and hit her head hard on the parking lot. Just before I went to a wedding today at Shorewood I called her to have her tell me about what is in her will for me and how she is cashing out from the stock market next week and will go somewhere on her own. My mother thinks all of this is causing her to lose her mind and that she may be going insane. How do you begin to comprehend that? We don't know.

With the busy lives people have today they often don't have time to listen or even want to hear the details of what's causing you so much pain. Life is full of running errands and taking orders and trying to unwind with your loved one at Starbucks. My sister (only a year and a half older) thinks overall I have been a selfish and insensitive sister when presented with her entire life as someone who is not mentally retarded but "slow." Before she hung up on me just before the wedding, she said, "You think like Daddy used to talk." She obviously wanted to get the message through finally. Maybe I will finally take the rare wisdom she has always had seriously.

Here's a couple of Bette Midler songs my sister Rita has always loved:

"The Rose"Some say love, it is a river
that drowns the tender reed.
Some say love, it is a razor
that leaves your soul to bleed.
Some say love, it is a hunger,
an endless aching need.
I say love, it is a flower,
and you its only seed.

It's the heart afraid of breaking
that never learns to dance.
It's the dream afraid of waking
that never takes the chance.
It's the one who won't be taken,
who cannot seem to give,
and the soul afraid of dyin'
that never learns to live.

When the night has been too lonely
and the road has been to long,
and you think that love is only
for the lucky and the strong,
just remember in the winter
far beneath the bitter snows
lies the seed that with the sun's love
in the spring becomes the rose.


"WIND BENEATH MY WINGS"

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
It must have been cold there in my shadow,
to never have sunlight on your face.
You were content to let me shine, that's your way.
You always walked a step behind.

So I was the one with all the glory,
while you were the one with all the strength.
A beautiful face without a name for so long.
A beautiful smile to hide the pain.

Did you ever know that you're my hero,
and everything I would like to be?
I can fly higher than an eagle,
'cause you are the wind beneath my wings.

It might have appeared to go unnoticed,
but I've got it all here in my heart.
I want you to know I know the truth, of course I know it.
I would be nothing without you.

Did you ever know that you're my hero?
You're everything I wish I could be.
I could fly higher than an eagle,
'cause you are the wind beneath my wings.

Did I ever tell you you're my hero?
You're everything, everything I wish I could be.
Oh, and I, I could fly higher than an eagle,
'cause you are the wind beneath my wings,
'cause you are the wind beneath my wings.

Oh, the wind beneath my wings.
You, you, you, you are the wind beneath my wings.
Fly, fly, fly away. You let me fly so high.
Oh, you, you, you, the wind beneath my wings.
Oh, you, you, you, the wind beneath my wings.

Fly, fly, fly high against the sky,
so high I almost touch the sky.
Thank you, thank you,
thank God for you, the wind beneath my wings.


To give you an idea of who my sister is, here's a piece I wrote on her years ago when I thought I was going to write a book about the two of us:

I'm currently working on a piece about the growth of paganism in our culture, but thought I'd fill the void with a Bible-related account from my sister, Rita.

In high school, starting at age 15, Rita worked an after-school job as a nurse's helper for a state-subsidized nursing home devoted to severely disabled people.

Her favorite resident soon became a guy in his 50s named Louie, who was both disabled and classified as "mentally retarded."

She tells their story as "buddies" like this:

"Louie was born with severe birth defects, including a clubfoot, and very bad asthma. His mother shoved him a state institution and he never got schooling. She never visited him and practically disowned him. Pretty much she just treated him like crap.

"Louie had a hard time going to the bathroom, not only because of his foot but because he had chronic asthma. He would accidentally pee himself.

"He lost his teeth when he was very young due to malnutrition from his mother.

"I remembered from my first days at the nursing home he was always making potholders. Now don't ask me how he was taught this but he was real good at it and used to sell them to everybody. He'd say, 'You want to buy a potholder off me today—I got one for a $1.'

"He'd ask people, 'You know what I'm saving the money for? I'm saving for teeth.'

"When he first told me this, I said, 'Good for you, Louie, that's really wonderful! You're really trying to do something nice for yourself!'

He said, 'Well, I feel like I need to do something because I can't stand chomping on my gums.'

'I said, 'You're right, that would feel pretty uncomfortable chewing.'

"After Louie started learning different things about me, I used to tease him and call him my boyfriend. The point is he got to talking to me about everything and he said one day,

'You know, Rita, I don't understand this. I've never had schooling in my life. I don't necessarily know how to write except for my name, but can you figure this out—I can read the Bible all the way through and tell you what it says through and through. I've memorized everything I've read.'

"I said, 'Wow, Louie, that's a gift from God!'

"Anyway, time went by and you really weren't allowed to talk about religion when you worked in a nursing home.

"One day I'll always remember was when I was invited to go with the whole nursing home, staff and patients, to Geauga Lake (an amusement park in northeastern Ohio). The other chaperones wanted to split off with the easier patients—the ones that wouldn't pee their pants and all that other stuff—but I took Louie and all the other mentally retarded one. I had about five or six to chaperone and I took off with them to show them a good time.

"I remember saying, 'Louie, pick out a ride. Pick out anything. It's your day.'

We found the first ride that had the right kind of steps for his foot and I said, 'Louie, we need to go one step at a time up those steps, so you hold onto me and I'll hold onto you and we'll get up there.'

"I said to all the men, 'We're going to do this all together guys because we're going to have a good time together.' And they said, 'Yeah!'

"So here's Louie trying to go up the steps with asthma and all, and he's getting up there and getting up there and getting up there--he's getting to the platform. Finally he got on this ride and then we all got on.

"I never saw anybody enjoy their day more. We did anything they wanted to do within reason. We had a ball.

"When we wanted to go to the bathroom, no problem. I said, 'Louie, I'll have to walk you to the door and you'll have to go by yourself. Go slow, and take your time because we're going to have a good time and we're not going to worry about you falling. We're not going to worry about anything.'

"And he said, 'Okay, Rita,' catching his breath and all because he had chronic asthma.

"As the day went on, we'd pass other people from the nursing home and the chaperones would say to me, 'Oh, I'm so tired. It's so hot out here.'

"They were complaining and here I was laughing inside, singing in my heart, thinking to myself, 'We're having a great time. I don't know about you, but we're having a super time!'

"Of course, I had the ones nobody else wanted, but I loved them. It was so nice spending time one-on-one with the people who really needed love.

"So get this, when we got back on the bus to go back to the nursing home, Louie said, 'I had the greatest time,' in his huffy voice--he was catching his breath, trying to smile and laugh at the same time. Then he said, 'I love you,' and I said, 'I love you too, Louie.' "And then all of a sudden I got a hug from all the men I took care of and I said to them, 'I love all of you the same and don't you ever forget it.'

"Then, when the other nursing home employees were huffing and puffing, complaining about the hard day they had, putting everybody into the toilet and everything, the activity director stood up in the bus and said, 'I have an announcement to make. I would like to say 'thank you' to somebody who did a wonderful job taking care of her group. And I would like to present this person a present from them.'

"And she named my name. It was a little heart trinket box and you know how I liked hearts when I was younger. I still keep it as my keepsake box.

"Time went by and, as you remember, I was in the hospital from the car accident we were in. Well, all 27 people in the nursing home took time to write me a card in the hospital.

"And then here's Louie, somebody's whose been crippled up since birth, and he's made me a heart from construction paper as a special homemade card. He told me later he made it to look like a lightbulb with hearts at the bottom but without it coming to a point at the top. It didn't come to a point at the top.

"After that, guess what happened? Louie had almost earned all the money he needed for his teeth but guess what happened? He died.

"Since he was pretty much deserted by his mom and dad and everyone in his family, they asked me to give a eulogy at the funeral. I was so upset from his death, though, I just couldn't find the right words. I kept praying about it and I feel bad about it to this day. I still say sometimes to God, 'Say Hi to Louie for me.'

"Louie had a spirit of gold. Even though he was always the worst of clients at the nursing home because he couldn't do much, we hit it off like buddies from the beginning. I remember one time I said, 'Louie, how would you like to have a good back rub tonight to help you sleep.' He said, 'I haven't had one of those in years and I don't even remember having one. I don't mind if you do.'

I said, 'Good, because I'm going to give you a good back rub and give you some lotion and then you're going to sleep good.'

Here are some questions I asked my sister about Louie:

Lisa: "What exactly did he ever say about the Bible?"

Rita: "He could tell you anything that happened in the Bible and interpret it. I don't remember--it's been so long ago--but he would read it daily. Every day like clockwork. He would read in the morning, I think, but I worked in the afternoon, and I know he read before he went to bed."

Lisa: "Did he tell anybody about what he learned?"

Rita: "Oh, yeah, he used to quote story after story."

Lisa: "Did people listen?"

Rita: "Well, yeah, but you know when people hear religion they want to turn the other way. And then people would sometimes say things like, 'You're out of your mind. You don't know anything. You're different.'

"Me, I knew just to believe what I saw in him as a person. He was a man bound-and-determined man to get some teeth and he was bound-and-determined to get them by making potholders. He used to make towels, too, all kinds of stuff. Just trying to get along.

"The things I learned off those people were incredible. There was love there. There was magnetism there. There was spontaneous love. There was conviction. There were highlights in my day all the time. When I thought the whole world was ending, they always picked up my spirits.

"They said, 'It looks like you need a hug today.' I said, 'I sure can use one—give me a big one! Give me a big, bigger hug,' and they'd squeeze me and I'd say, 'Sing for me,' and they'd sing for me. They always did something to make me feel good because we were never allowed to receive gifts.

"But my gifts were internal. I saw God working in me to work FOR them."

Lisa: "You also saw God working in THEM for YOU."

Rita: "RIGHT! I mean I was taught morals, wisdom, spiritual life, giving life, Corinthian love. I was taught discipleship. I was taught religion. I was taught everything I needed to know to grow. They are the ones I credit. It was addicting to me because God gave me the strength to go to school full-time and, after school was up, go to work full-time. That was illegal of course, but I didn't know any better. I didn't know any better that I wasn't allowed to work until I was 16. You're not allowed to work past so many hours when you're 15.

"But it must have been God saying, 'You know, Rita, I think you deserve to be in that place right now. I'm going to choose that one.' Eventually it just became natural. Everything and anything happened for me. I felt God had responsibility for it—you know what I mean?

"I can't see myself ever forgetting those memories. I felt so strong it was God's way because I remember very well on August 10, 1978, when I called several different places, asking, 'Are you accepting applications?' and I'd get, 'No.' 'Do you need someone to pump gas?' 'No.' 'Do you need someone to be a waitress or clean up floors?' 'No.' Then I said, 'Oh, I'll just pick one more out of the phone book.'

"The last call I made was to 994-4250 and I asked, 'Are you accepting any applications?' The guy said, 'Well, what's your name,' and I told him. I said, 'Rita Leland.' He said, 'How old are you?' and I said, '15'. He asked, 'When's your birthday?' and I told him. He said, 'C'mon down and I'll talk to the manager in the mean time' and later on they said, 'We'll talk.' "

Quick, on the double!

Hebrews 4:12 tells us “the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."

Jordan explains, “When it says it’s powerful, that means it’s energetic; it’s got a transforming, dynamic in its life that will transform you from the inside. It changes your attitudes, which changes your actions. It transforms your heart and renews your mind.

“When He says it’s quick, that word ‘quick’ means alive, but don’t be so quick to jump over the quick concept because the word alive means it’s functioning in every part. The Word of God doesn’t function lethargically. It’s not that it functions eventually.

“What’s in view is that it’s in a state of activity. The word function has the idea of being able to respond without hesitation and delay. God’s Word will respond to your faith quickly. It’s alive, and when you believe it, it works!

“It doesn’t take six months to work. It’ll work the moment you believe it. That’s why it says ‘quick.’ It’ll do it now! The part about the quick I like is I didn’t have to do anything but believe it and it worked. He isn’t waiting on me to do something. He’s just waiting on me to believe it! The word becomes the sustaining internal compulsion with the life of Jesus Christ that gives victory.”

*****

Paul writes in Romans 8:27, “And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”

The ‘he’ in the verse is a reference to the Holy Spirit. As Jordan points out, “Your Bible has no problem attributing the male pronoun ‘he’ to the Spirit. Isn’t that interesting? You say, ‘Well, why does it refer to the Spirit as ‘itself’ in verse 26? Because that’s the proper translation of the verse.

“In a first year Greek grammar book, you learn that the Greek word for spirit is the word ‘pneuma.’ We use it in the words ‘pneumatic’ and ‘pneumonia,’ for example. The word in Greek means ‘neuter.’ Just in case you would misunderstand the personality issue, verse 27 has it as ‘he’ and the reason for that is the textual reason about the pronoun.”

*****

The term Holy Ghost is used to refer to the third person of the godhead and every time it’s emphasizing, in the context, the person of the Holy Spirit.

“When you see Him called the Holy Spirit the focus is going to be on the work that He is doing,” explains Jordan. “The part of you that hosts the presence of the Spirit of God is not your flesh or your soul; it’s your spirit.”

Where my loved ones gone . . .

Willie Nelson does a classic rendition of the song “Uncloudy Day,” in which the first verse goes,

Oh, they tell me of a home
Far beyond the skies
Oh, they tell me of a home
So far away
Yes, they tell me of a home
Where no storm clouds rise
Oh, they tell me
Yes, they tell me
Of an uncloudy day

At the Rapture, Paul tells us that “we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” (I Thess. 4:17).

Through history, ongoing discussion has been about, “Well, what are the clouds?” They’re not storm clouds.

“One of the standard ways of understanding that passage is to say the clouds are really angels, the heavenly host, but that’s not it,” says Jordan. “When the Bible talks about the Lord of hosts, it’s talking about a host of angels.”

Matthew 26 says the Lord is going to come “in the clouds of heaven.” Hebrews 12 begins with, “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses . . .”

Jordan explains, “It’s not talking about a cloud of water vapor. It’s talking about a big group of witnesses. It’s talking about all the people he’s listed in chapter 11. You can use the word cloud in the sense of talking about a big group of people, not just like a cloud in the sky.”

******

In a passage that prophetically looks toward the Second Coming of Christ, II Samuel 22:8-13 says,

[8] Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations of heaven moved and shook, because he was wroth.
[9] There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.
[10] He bowed the heavens also, and came down; and darkness was under his feet.
[11] And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: and he was seen upon the wings of the wind.
[12] And he made darkness pavilions round about him, dark waters, and thick clouds of the skies.[13] Through the brightness before him were coals of fire kindled.

“This is a psalm of David that matches Psalm 18,” says Jordan. “The issue is under his feet was darkness and thick clouds.”

Psalm 97 says, “The LORD reigneth; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad thereof.
[2] Clouds and darkness are round about him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne.

Jordan explains, “The way he made darkness pavilions round about him is with clouds that veil off his glory. If you get clouds that are thick and dense enough to black out the sun . . . I’ve flown into a cloud bank that looked just as dark as night but when you flew into it, the clouds were just as light and white. What the darkness really is is a shadow.

“You get these thick clouds with water vapor in them and they block off the sun and under the bottom of that cloud you really have a shadow and it looks dark, but they’re just as white as can be because it’s the optics of the thing. What the cloud does is veils back the sunlight. Around the Lord He does the same thing. He has clouds to sort of veil off His glory.”

*****

In I Timothy 6:16, Paul writes about God, “Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting.”

Jordan explains, “Paul’s talking about the light of the majesty of the manifestation of His person. God as being God cannot be limited by time or space, but because He is God, and He does have a creation that He has made, He chooses to manifest Himself to His creation.

“He chooses to do that in a geographic location. That’s part of what the third heaven is about. When He does it, it’s in a blazing representation of light and it’s called ‘the glory of God.’ But when that glory appears (when the manifestation of his person appears) it is so overwhelming that you can’t approach to it. So He veils it off in the Scripture over and over, and what He veils it with are clouds. The clouds put a filter, as it were, on the glory and what you have to veil off that light to which no man can approach is a ‘pavilion round about Him.’

“According to the dictionary, a pavilion is a temporary building erected for the use of an exhibitor. In other words, God builds a temporary structure around Him in which He exhibits His glory and the pavilion is made of clouds.”

*****

I Kings 8:10-13 says, “And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the LORD,
[11] So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of the LORD.
[12] Then spake Solomon, The LORD said that he would dwell in thick darkness.
[13] I have surely built thee an house to dwell in, a settled place for thee to abide in for ever.

Jordan says, “Notice what happens in verse 12. In other words, what that cloud is doing is holding back, making it so you could approach to the Lord.

“This happens all through the Old Testament back there with Israel. In Exodus 19, the Israelites had the pillar of fire by night and the cloud by day. The cloud represented the Lord’s presence in their midst, but it’s a cloud because it’s engulfed. It’s veiled off.

*****

Exodus 19:9 says, “And the LORD said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever. And Moses told the words of the people unto the LORD.”

Verse 16 says, “And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.”

Jordan says, “There’s the cloud in which the glory of God is and what you’re seeing is the majesty of His glory but it’s veiled so they could look at it.”

Exodus 20:21 says, “And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.”

*****

In Nahum, is a passage that while historically referring to God’s judgment of Nineveh, is looking forward to the Second Advent. It reads, “God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies.
[3] The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.”

Jordan says, “The Book of Job also talks about the Lord’s Coming and it’s like a whirlwind and the clouds are the dust of his feet. So when the Lord has a dustup what happens is you have clouds. You know when somebody’s whipping across somewhere, they make a big cloud plume and it encompasses them. In a case like this, when it comes to the atmosphere, God’s presence makes such a disturbance in the atmosphere that it generates clouds, storms.

“At the Rapture, Believers will be caught up into this giant pavilion that accompanies the presence of the Lord and the clouds will veil what’s going on from everybody else.”

(Editor’s Note: To be continued . . . )

Never mind

Amos 8:11 says, “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD.”

Notice it isn’t that there won’t be Bibles available; it’ll be the same thing as in Genesis 3.

Jordan says Charles Stanley was on the radio recently talking about how “Abraham was a great Christian.”

Acts 11:26 says, “And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.”

---

Jordan says, “Did you know there were no Christians on the day of Pentecost? We bill ourselves on the radio and TV in Chicago as representing the only non-Pentecostal message in Chicagoland. No wonder people throw rocks at us.

“Antioch is the center Paul went out from. It’s the center of his ministry. You hear people say, ‘Let’s go back to Pentecost.’ Really it’s, ‘Let’s go back to Antioch.’ The center of Bible-believing activity in the early church was Antioch and there’s a spontaneous expansion of the gospel from it in what we today call Turkey, all through Europe, Asia, down into Africa.

“Somebody asked me about how I said in one of my studies, ‘That’s a case of a pig picking up a piece of baloney and going too far with it.’ You talk to these guys up in the Midwest and sometimes you have to spell it out in little two-syllable simple words without any allusions to any kind of metaphors, but you guys are catching on.”

Pelican's belly-can

The Bible picture of "rivers of living water flowing" out of the Believer is really talking about God the Holy Spirit. The rivers of water is a symbol; an emblem of the Holy Spirit.

“The Bible is filled with figures of speech,” explains Jordan. “When we say we take the Bible literally we don’t take it woodenly; we understand that there are figures of speech in the scripture that we recognize, we understand, we talk that way.”

*****

In Hosea 12:10, Hosea testifies, “I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets.”

That word similitude, or simile, is a comparison that uses like or as. It’s a description of something that says, “If you understand this, well, this works just like that works. This is as that is.”

If you have a comparison that does not use like or as it’s a metaphor. A metaphor is where one object stands for another.

*****

An illustration is in Psalm 102: 6-7: “I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the desert.  I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top.”

What’s he saying? In the end of verse he spells it out. What the psalmist is doing is describing his loneliness and isolation.

“If you know anything about a pelican or an owl or a sparrow you know that they are isolated kinds of birds,” says Jordan. “A pelican is a coastal bird that has that big pouch under its beak and it goes out and catches fish, eats them and then regurgitates the fish into that undercarriage to feed its young with it.

“Now if you can imagine what that would do to a pelican in the hot sun with all that regurgitated fish in its pouch, you probably don’t want to be around a pelican that much.

“You ever been around a buzzard? When I was young down in Alabama, I used to turkey hunt and the first time I ever shot a turkey, I blew the thing out of the air and went over to get it and I said, ‘Man, there’s something dead over here.’ Well, when I got up to it, it was a buzzard.

“The point is I could smell that bird before I could see it because of what it would eat. Well, a pelican is sort of that way. Hosea was saying, ‘I’m lonely and I’m like those birds are in my loneliness.' ”

(Editor’s Note: To be continued . . . )

22 flavors

I started my diet in earnest today. Just a small chicken breast and some succotash for dinner. Only healthy, low-fat food and drink from now on. Fortunately, I have at least 22 different herbal teas to pick from for evening satiation--water is the key to staving off hunger. The hardest hours for me are always the ones before bedtime. I just hope I can sleep since its harder to come by when my stomach's rumbling. For exercise, I have my mini-trampoline to jog on while i swirl around either my 10-pound or 5-pound hand weights. One of the biggest things that's gotten me into my weight problem is what's called plantar fascitis. Anytime I go jogging I feel the pain in my heels.

So, have to get up around 5 tomorrow morning for work and just got home 15 minutes ago from picking up a resident just-released from Stroger Hospital (all the way down at Harrison and Damen off the Ike) after major surgery. I'll be sure and post a new article tomorrow. Looking forward to making my fresh-fruit diet smoothie in the morning and having a cup of coffee with low-fat creamer. The old-new Lisa is ready for battle (of the bulge and the Enemy).

Remoter context

There’s a rule in Bible study called the rule of subsequent narrative. That is, there will be an account in scripture in one place and later on, in a remoter context, there will be something added that wasn’t in the original story.

For example, Jesus Christ says in John 7:38, “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

It doesn’t say it’s quoting a passage. It doesn’t say “as it is written somewhere.” It says as the scripture teaches. It doesn’t say it’s written down in a specific verse although in Isaiah 58:11 is a real specific verse it could be making reference to, although it’s not a quote.

The verse reads, “And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.”

“The Bible’s full of these kinds of things,” says Jordan. “They’re not mistakes. They’re additional information that’s given later on. It’s still true; it’s just not all given in one place. One of the reasons for that is the Bible’s meant to be studied. If the Bible was written like a book of theology, you know what you’d do with it? You’d put it on your bookshelf and never read it again.

“I don’t read any theology book all the time. Why would I? Maybe sometime I’ll refer back to it if I have some reference question, but it’s not something you have to pore over. The Bible’s written in such a way that to really understand it you’ve got to keep poring over it and poring over it.”

*****

Jude 9 informs, “Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.”

Now, that passage can be found back in the last chapter of Deuteronomy. When Moses died, Satan and Michael contend over his body.

“Some people say, ‘Well, maybe it wasn’t his physical body; maybe it was the nation Israel,” says Jordan. “I Corinthians 10 talks about how when they came across the Red Sea, they were baptized under Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and so that nation when it came across, it’s called in Acts 7 the ‘Church of the Wilderness.’

“Some people say the body of Moses was really the nation of Israel once it had become that separated nation—that set apart people of God. Either way you take it, Satan and Michael are contending over the body of Moses.

“Go back in book of Exodus, Deuteronomy and Numbers and read all day long ‘til your eyes bug out on the table and you’ll never find that statement back there! You wouldn’t know this event took place except that it’s written subsequently in the Book of Jude.”

*****

If you drop down to verse 14 in Jude, it says, “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints.”

It says Enoch was seventh from Adam because there’s another Enoch who was Cain’s son. The Enoch from Genesis 5 didn’t die; God took him and translated him. Hebrews 11 talks about how he walked with God after the birth of Methuselah.

“You begin to understand when you read Hebrews 11 that something happened at the birth of Methuselah that changed Enoch’s life,” says Jordan. “It says ‘he began to walk with God.’ Enoch prophesied, meaning he had a message from God. So there was some communication between God and Enoch and then Enoch and people around him.”

*****

The name Methuselah means “when he dies it shall come.” When Methuselah died, the Flood and its judgment came. Enoch is prophesying about this, saying “Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of His saints to execute judgment upon all ungodly.”

“Every time I read that verse, I think, ‘There were some ungodly dudes back there! Just over and over again!’ But here’s the prophecy about the judgment of God. One’s going to be at the Flood and the other is going to be at the Second Advent, which the Flood was a type of.

“Enoch prophesied of that but that’s the verse where people get all bent out, saying, ‘Well, there’s a lost book of the Bible called the ‘Book of Enoch’ that should be in there.’ No, this is the rule of subsequent narrative. You wouldn’t know Enoch did this stuff except the Book of Jude wrote it down for you.”

(Editor’s Note: To be continued . . .)

Word from home

Jacob sends Joseph out of Hebron (the name means fellowship, communion) south to Shechem (which means service).

“When you think of Shechem, you ought to think of Genesis 34:25-30. Go back and read the awful sin and sorrow associated with Shechem,” says Jordan. “And Israel’s boys are down there in Shechem and that’s the place of failure. And he’s worried about them so he sends his beloved son to them in that condition to make it right with them and for them.”

Genesis 37:15 says, “And a certain man found him, and, behold, he was wandering in the field: and the man asked him, saying, What  seekest thou?”

Jordan says, “That’s interesting. A certain man finds Joseph out there and he’s wandering in the field. He’s looking for his brethren and can’t find them. You remember what Matthew says about Jesus?  It says He spent the night out in front of the canopy of the stars because ‘foxes have holes, birds have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head.’

“You remember the last part of John 7 when it says they all went back to their house but Jesus didn’t have a house to go back to so He went up on the hill, up on the mountain and prayed all night? No one invited Him to go home; no one took Him in and gave Him a prophet’s chamber. No one said, ‘Come be my guest; take care of me and I’ll take care of you.’ ”

*****

Genesis 37:17 says, “And the man said, They are departed hence; for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brethren, and found them in Dothan.”

The name Dothan means “the law, the custom.” Israel had gone out serving the law and became bound by the law, bound by the custom, bound by the tradition. Israel was in a condition when Christ found them of being bound unto the bondage of the yoke and weight of legalistic performance which just condemned them.

When Joseph went to Dothan he didn’t quit. “When the going got tough, he didn’t back off, he didn’t say, ‘Dad sent me here but they weren’t where they were supposed to be so I’ll just go home,’ ” says Jordan. “They’d gone down into the bondage and he followed after them. When they saw him a far off, even before he came near unto them, they said, ‘Glory Hallelujah, word from home!’ No, that isn’t what it said, is it?

“Can you imagine these boys out there, they’re having to forage around for somewhere and they’re down here and they just keep getting worse and worse and worse, and here comes the lad with the coat of many colors because you know dad sent word; you know dad’s concerned because he sent the light of his heart, his favorite son, he sent the son of his old age, and he’s got the coat on and he’s coming. ‘Word from home! Some of momma’s home cooking!’

“No, that isn’t what they say. They conspired against him. Matthew 12:4 says the religious leaders of Israel plotted against Jesus Christ how they might kill Him. And from there all the way to the Cross you see Him constantly under attack, every opportunity trying to get Him.

“They said one to another, ‘Behold this dreamer cometh.’ You see, they still hated Him because of His words. They still didn’t believe what He had said. Jesus hung on Calvary.”

Coated with love

Back before the foundation of the world and the creation of anything, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit were back there loving each other.

“You ought to let that sink in,” says Jordan. “The love of God was something that was natural among the godhead. It’s natural for God is love.”

*****

Israel (that’s Jacob) loved Joseph more than all his children. He’s the son of his old age and he loved him. He had a special place.

Genesis 37:3 says Jacob loved him because of who he was and made him a coat of many colors. In II Samuel 13:18, a coat of many colors appears on a lady (And she had a garment of divers colours upon her: for with such robes were the king's daughters that were virgins appareled) and then on Sisera in Judges 5:30 (to Sisera a prey of divers colours, a prey of divers colours of needlework, of divers colours of needlework on both sides). It’s always a mark of distinction in the Bible; something that’s given as a mark of special status and distinction.